Hello! Imagine this scenario. You have just bought a computer with Windows 10. Or simply, after some time of use, you decide to format the system. Consequently, now comes the tedious task of installing your favorite apps one by one. Well, Microsoft has just published a tool that will make this process much easier. In fact, Winget is the new Windows package manager that allows you to install apps from the Command Prompt. Furthermore, this process is fast and simple since it only involves the use of a simple command. But, best of all, it covers more software than the one available at the Microsoft Store. In this post, we’ll see how great the new Windows package manager is.
Installing Windows apps from the terminal is a simple method. Believe me!
Windows 10 has some options for installing several programs at once. That is, without having to go on the web one by one. In fact, here we talk about Chocolatey. Which is a great alternative package manager with many programs and graphical interface. On the other hand, there is also the option of Ninite. This tool allows you to install many popular apps with a single click. However, its catalog has not been updated recently. The other option is the Microsoft store. But it may not be the best choice as it lacks many popular apps.
Now, I think Winget is a better choice than these. Despite being in a preliminary state, it works very well. No matter that its use is limited to the terminal, it is still very simple to use.
How to use Winget to install apps in Windows 10
As mentioned above, the Windows Package Manager or Winget is in a preliminary state. It is also an open-source project hosted by GitHub. On the other hand, you need Windows 10 1709 or later to use it. Well, to start using it you must download the client from here. Please download the file with the extension .appxbundle
Then run it like any other Windows program. Click on Update to complete the installation.
From this point on, you can use CMD or PowerShell to install apps. To open a CMD, press the Win+R combination and type CMD:
To check the operation of the tool, from the Command Prompt execute the following command:
winget
To see the list of available programs, please execute the following command:
winget show
The list of available software is very extensive. And it’s likely to grow over time. You will find from text editors like Atom, Brackets, or Sublime Text. Additionally, messaging applications like Telegram, WhatsApp, and Discord. And there are also popular apps like roasting for popular apps of all kinds like Spotify, Zoom, qBittorrent, Filezilla, WinRar, Opera, Open VPN, VS Code, Dropbox, 7zip, etc. Once you get the program, just run the following command along with the name of the app, to install it. This time we will install qBittorrent.
winget install qbittorrent
Conclusion
Ultimately we have seen how to install Winget on Windows 10. Please note that the program is still in the preliminary phase. Therefore, some failures are expected. However, in my experience, I have had correct use. Perhaps, the only problem is that for now, it does not allow automatic program updates. But it is very likely that this function will be added in the future. All right, that’s it for now. Greetings!
